Media

Cite Soleil has had a complex relationship with the media - it is one of those places that fall into the category of what Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie described in her speech as "the danger of a single story". The media seems to tell a single story about Cite Soleil - that it is a place full of trash, misery, and gangsters. The three images on the right are the first three images you find when you search for "Cite Soleil" in Google Images. Most of the rest of the images are similar, and you can scroll for minutes before you see positive images like you see on this site. Most people know Cite Soleil from the film, "Ghosts of Cite Soleil", which follows two mid-level gangsters and is full of images of guns, drugs, and gang life.

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No one is saying that these images are fake, or that you can't find them if you go to Cite Soleil. They exist, they are real. But they are not the only images of Cite Soleil. There are other realities, there are nuances to the story that are not told. Communities need to pay media to come to cover positive events, and yet every time there is a shooting, media show up in droves for free.

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But this is starting to change - more journalists are getting closer to the community, getting a deeper understanding, and telling a more complex story. And the neighborhoods are finding their own ways to give their voices a platform. Read on to find text, audio, and video that show the many stories of Cite Soleil.